Our newest Hobby~ Chickens

Well we just bought our home in April, and our little chicks will be here sometime this week. I really enjoy reading others stories and seeing their pics as they go along, so I decided to try a story of my own.

We live in a smallish community of 2.5 acre lots. Our property was completely un-fenced when we bought it, so the first thing we did was fence a huge backyard. Which leaves about an acre behind that, that still needs to be fenced, and of course the front yard is quite large as well. There was a pole barn already built, which we included in our backyard area, and is what started us wanting chickens right away. There was a huge horse corral that we took down, and saved all the wood from. The posts will be used to fence the back of the property, and the rails were what we used for the coop. Its all sun aged wood, very pretty and "free". So our coop ended up costing maybe $100 total out of pocket. The coop is inside the barn, in one of three stalls, and the run will be attached to one end of the barn. We've yet to build the run, but have 6 weeks at least till the chickens will need it.

Our master bathroom has a garden tub, that I hate, but is going to be the perfect brooder. I really didn't want the chicks in the garage, having to go out there constantly just doesn't seem like much fun.

Here's the barn. The run will be from the far left door to the fence. Our fence is a three rail, with goat wire all the way around.

Here is the coop. Almost everything is the wood from the old corral. Only 2 pieces of plywood were used. One of them was left over from finishing the garage, and one large piece was bought to do the flooring. All we have left is to install the locks on the doors, the ramp and door for the chickies and the roosts and nesting boxes. We literally only have scraps of this old wood left, used every piece we could.

The nesting side...

Roosting side...

Here's the walk-through. As you can see we laminated the floor, for easy cleaning. They walls are calked and painted high gloss, also for easy cleaning. And since I was painting, why not make it nice and colorful? We've got venting on both ends, plus all the boards has some sort of slight spacing between them. If at some point we notice the humidity level getting too high we can add more venting quite easily.

Well there's our set up. We're pretty happy with it so far. We are definetly learning as we go, and have to take apart and re-do things from time to time. We hoping the fact that we'll be using new wood for the run means it will be easier. This older wood is a little warped in places, making some things crooked, and not measuring true. I'll be adding a few more posts showing our property and what-not. It's very new to us being in a "country" setting, after 12 years moving from base to base. It's good to be home in Colorado, and hopefully we do not have to PCS for the rest of my husbands career.

Here are my boys. Bean and Waffle, in that order. They are Boston Terriers and they did a great job of scaring off all the little creatures that had moved in while the property was empty for so long. Waffle is my only concern regarding the chickens. If we can teach him early and fast to leave the chickens alone he might actually turn out to be a great little guardian.

And here is what my poor chickens will fear the most....The Hawks.

This is the back corner of our property, the area that has yet to be fenced. These two started showing up 3 days ago. They land around 3pm and stay till 7 or 8. They just sit there. The big Jack Rabbits hop right past them, and the Hawks never even move.

And we just happen to be lucky enough to have a great view of Pikes Peak right out our back door.

Pretty cool! Looking forward to seeing your farm-ette progress. My one concern is the bold red walls in your coop. Chickens can react strongly to the color red, and I don't know how that will work for them. Have fun with your chicks! Take lots of pictures :)

Wow! Lots of hard work going on at your place. Good thing you have the Bostons to keep you on the straight and narrow. According to them humans are lazy and boring. As for the hawks, make sure you have plenty of hidey places for the chickens and cover the chicken pen with wire. I suspect you'll lose chickens to the hawks if you are not careful. Beautiful, open country you have there!

Married to the old dude, 0 human kids, 2 horses, 4 cockatiels, 2 parakeets, 1 Blue Front Amazon, 1 Yellow Head Amazon, 4 cockatiels, two parakeets, 1 eccentric peacock, 1 pet terrapin, 1 Blue Copper Marans rooster, and 10 world famous Jersey Giants! New to the group is 3 Black Marans chicks and one unidentified chick who turned out to be Lying Larry the Black Copper Marans Rooster.

Wow! Lots of hard work going on at your place. Good thing you have the Bostons to keep you on the straight and narrow. According to them humans are lazy and boring. As for the hawks, make sure you have plenty of hidey places for the chickens and cover the chicken pen with wire. I suspect you'll lose chickens to the hawks if you are not careful. Beautiful, open country you have there!

Well as you can see its pretty bare around here. I'm not sure why no one puts up trees or any plants at all. I realize most of these homes are horse property though, so it's not like they're going to start a nursery or anything, but would it kill them to see some green? I am planning for a lot of trees, which won't count toward my limit of irrigated landscaping. The only bad thing about that is things take a long time to grow. And some of the planting won't happen till we get a deck built, which will be our guide of what's open and what's not. So my plan for free ranging birds might not happen for a little while longer.
We were writing out plans for the run last night and decided on the galvanized hardware cloth for the roofing, and goat wire for the one outer wall we need to build. We lucked out that the fence is the perfect height to use for two of the walls. This weekend I told my husband we have six weeks to build it and that there is no rush. Last night he was bummed when he realized Lowes was closing and he couldn't run out right then to order the few pieces of lumber we need, and buy a new table saw. I'm pretty sure he was more disappointed in the inability to get a new tool. I'm also happy that we finally have something to use all our left over fencing lumber on. We have like 50 rails left, 8 new posts and all the circle posts left from taking down the corral.
While writing this I got a call from USPS that my chicks are in. The problem? They got to the processing center AFTER all the trucks left, and I do not drive to random places whose location I don't know. I'm just too new to the city, and getting lost is not an option. So, instead of leaving the poor babies there for the night, my husband is going to get them, take them to work, attend a meeting then bring them home at lunch. The girls are crazy excited....gotta go find them something to do. Bye!

The chickies are here!!
Well we ordered 7 but there were only 6 in the box. After identifying them we figured out we are missing one of the Barred Rocks. When I called My Pet Chicken she said since it was marked that there were two packed, one of them might have hopped out when the top was open while packing the rest. No big deal, got a refund on her, and we'll be ordering more chicks when the Silkies are available again.
We've got three named already. The Polish, named by Paige(8) is Shen, and the two Golden Buffs, named by Miya(4) are Lola and Lula. My husband decided he gets to name the one BR, since she's the biggest, bigger around but shorter than the Polish. Which leaves me to name the Silver Laced Wyandottes.
I made a mash out of their crumble by adding a little water, they have been eating for 2 hours now. I see them getting water pretty well on their own. The golden buffs were the first on the food, and seem pretty smart. The Polish is a pushy little thing. The Barred Rock is laid back. I hate to say it, but the Wyandottes seem a little dumb, just wandering till they notice some one else doing something.
I've got the temp perfect and everyone seems happy. I'll get pictures posted tonight, I have to pull out the laptop for that cause I can't transfer pics from the iPad.
~Ashley